Ghost Stories
by aaliyahcrosses
Summary: "So please remember me, as vivid as I was" —'Unravel' (English translation). Her name was written in the memorial, her body laid to rest in the ground. Yet still she wouldn't leave. Couldn't leave. (ft: SasuSaku) Rated T for violence and death.


**Summary:** " _So please remember me, as vivid as I was_ " — _Unravel_ English translation. Her name was written in the memorial, her body laid to rest in the ground. Yet still she wouldn't leave. _Couldn't_ leave.  
 **Warnings:** character deaths, angst (?). F*cked up timeline.  
 **Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is the property of _Masashi Kishimoto_ , _Shueisha_ and _Viz Media_. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Also chidori heart piercing where the girl blocks the guy's attack? Originally RinKashi's story LOL. And then a bit of doctor/river too with all the _I can always see you_ thingy.  
 **A/N:** this was just supposed to be a story where Sakura dies, but then _DW_ with river following doctor and then _five people you meet in heaven_ sorta wormed their way in the story.

—

It was a scene that should have happened _years_ ago, at the hospital roof when they were younger. But their sensei, Kakashi Hatake, was there and stopped it just in time. The circumstances was different now, however.

They've grown up. All of them. Naruto had matured, earned more friends as years passed. Sasuke got stronger, and along it his hatred too. She too. No longer was she that young, lovesick twelve-year old little girl who lacks self-confidence.

And they weren't even in the hospital roof.

Sasuke had killed Danzou through one of his teammates and injured her much (was this really the boy who jumped in front of Naruto to save him from inevitable attacks or got very, very mad because he saw Sakura hurt badly?). Sakura decided to heal her, as Naruto fought the stubborn, revenge-obsessed boy while trying to reason with him.

She cried. She cried as she healed the redheaded girl that was now Sasuke's teammate. And when the girl was fully healed, she stood up, and went back where Sasuke and Naruto was fighting.

She saw it: chidori and rasengan. She thought: _someone would definitely die_.

She screamed. And ran. Ran and jumped between them.

The two saw, but the impact was something inevitable. They were running. The horrified look at Naruto's face, and the flicker of _unsure_ in Sasuke's. It was all too fast.

A chidori through her chest, and a rasengan to her back.

And she smiled.

She _stopped_ them. She had managed to do so.

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

She'll even bet that they'll stop fighting, even for awhile.

Sasuke slowly, slowly, pulled his hand away. Blood. There was blood.

"Sakura..."

How funny, this was her last thoughts before she actually _died_ , that the boy who turned her down every time she gave him her heart, again and again, would be the one to literally pierce her beating heart. That the boy so close to her heart would be the reason for the gaping, painful hole in her back. That the boys— _her_ boys, the ones who would protect her no matter what when they were younger—would be the reason for her death.

She smiled.

 _I love you._

—

She didn't know _how_ or _what_ happened exactly. First she _died_ , and then light and then she spent sometime on a road, and as she walked on realized her memories were being reenacted. And she wished, she hoped very, very hard to _not_ stay here. She didn't want to see her life again. If she's moving on, she can't have second thoughts on wanting to stay. Another blinding light.

—

When she opened her eyes, she was in his room at the prison cells. _He_ was reading a scroll.

Her wish was ungranted, it seemed. That stupid light just threw her back to the world of the living.

She snorted as she crossed her arms in front of her, walking behind him and looking at the scroll. "Training, even here? Whatever am I gonna do with you?"

She saw him flinch, and her eyes widened a bit.

"S-Sasuke-kun? Can you hear me?"

He shifted in his position, making it seem like he was pouring more attention to what he was reading.

She sighed. "Of course you don't. I'm betting you can't see me either."

His back was _too_ straight, his body too stiff.

She wanted so badly to touch him reassuringly.

—

Sometimes she's there, sometimes she's _not_. It was rather disorienting.

But when he was finally released, still under probation, she went with him to his new apartment (it was the Council who picked it—good God, those people).

She noticed he paused and left the door open, and she mused that maybe it's to let her in. She's _dead_ , and pretty much _invisible_ , so musing about such couldn't hurt anyone, could it? (Except her, but that's fine, wasn't it? She's a ghost.)

"Well, the size is pretty much like Naruto's, huh?" she mumbled as she stepped inside.

When she was already safely inside, he had just managed to take off his sandals. He turned around, made a sound of annoyance because he noticed the door ajar, closed the door, and quickly strode across the room to another nearby door.

She looked on at the door he disappeared to sadly.

She decided she hated doors. They always knew—always _remembered_ —how to close.

—

There were times, when he visited the Uchiha clan house, and he would train at the backyard.

She would be there.

She would talk, about what happened when he was gone, about how she trained and hoped and waited, about the chūnin exams she retook, about Naruto leaving with Jiraiya.

She pretended he listened, somehow, that in some weird, _weird_ way he could hear her.

"It's funny, isn't it? We all got trained under them Legendary Sannins. You under Orochimaru, Naruto under Jiraiya and me with shishuo."

She looked at him as he took a shuriken and threw it away, bending its path phenomenally.

"Team Seven, trained by the Copy-nin Kakashi Hatake. And then under the Legendary Sannins."

He threw a whole bunch of kunai this time, hitting all the targets at almost the same time.

"Do you think, we could've become legends too? I mean, it wouldn't be bad, would it?"

He stopped on his training, and stared down at the sword in his hand.

"Legends, huh," he mumbled rather audibly.

It was all Sakura could do not to gasp. She closed her eyes, scared to open them again because she's scared that he'd see her and _then_ what would she do?

She only opened them again when the sound of pierced wood started again.

He never looked at her.

—

Sometimes, she would go with him when he goes around the town, ANBU nimbly following them—well, _him_ —and people looking on in fear.

At those times he would usually end up on the bridge—the meeting place of Team Seven. He would just stand there, as if waiting for something that never comes.

It was when he would hold on to the wooden rails of the bridge and stare in the water or the sun that she would find herself beside him. She's only a few centimeters—millimeters, even—away, _almost_ but _not_ touching.

She just can't bear the thought of her hand, her figure, her _all_ , slipping through him.

—

Once, when she was in _that_ world, he met a young man who looked a lot like Sasuke.

"You're dead," she blurted out.

Itachi merely inclined his head. "I thought you already knew that. After all, you _are_ the Hokage's apprentice, aren't you?"

Sakura sighed. "I _knew_ , I just... Why are _you_ here? In this..." She gestured around. She wanted to call it her _own personal hell_ but then what if it wasn't? "...purgatory...?"

An eyebrow rose. "You think this is purgatory?"

"I'm obviously not in the afterlife yet."

He chuckled. "You are right. Smart," he nodded in approval. "Just like a kunoichi should be."

"Not anymore..."

"But once a kunoichi, always one, right?"

She shrugged.

She _should_ be angry with him—what he did to Sasuke and the rest of their clan was not nice. But what's the use of being angry with a person who's dead? Especially if the other party was _also_ dead?

"I'm here to tell you what happened."

Her head snapped up, and she stared blankly at him.

She listened as the former ANBU relayed the tragic, _tragic_ story of what was once an amazing clan which brought about its own destruction. The story of the boy who grew up too fast, the boy who gave up everything for his brother and village.

Sakura cried. For him and for his family and for his brother and for his— _their_ —village.

When she recovered, he told her that she should stop him if his brother tried anything foolish.

"He listens to you," he said.

She replied, "he never does. Did. Whatever."

"Then why did he hesitate?" he asked, before leaving her alone again.

The image of Sasuke, taking his time to tell her _thank you_ before he left when he could just walk away and leave her popped in on her mind.

Of his eyes before she died.

—

It is during nighttime that she feels useless.

He would thrash about sometimes, shouting, calling his Mom, Dad, his brother. Sometimes, even her name. _Why...?_ It would always be what he asked.

She would call his name listlessly.

It is during this time he would open his eyes and stare at her directly, and she would be at loss on what to do.

Sometimes he would even reach for her.

It takes all her willpower not to reach back.

Instead, when he's calmed down, she would lie down beside him and tell him the stories of the _dead_ people she's met so far.

Stories of his ANBU brother ( _"He really, really loved you, you know?"_ ), of Naruto's mom ( _"She's really close to your mom too. Kushina-sama actually considered Mikoto-san as a close friend."_ ) of Dan-san ( _"You know when they say, '_ Til death do us part _'? I don't think Dan-san... well, he's still there, somehow. Watching over her."_ ) and of Akasuna no Sasori ( _"I still can't believe I met him again. His sense of humor sucked big time, and he_ was _a killer; but I'm glad all the same. I'm happy he found peace."_ ).

She wondered when her fifth person would come.

—

She doesn't remember ever feeling this _mad_.

"I didn't die just so you could leave again!" she screamed. She felt frustrated and mad.

She was about to punch him, punch some sense into him, when he caught it.

 _He caught it_.

 _Sasuke caught it_.

 _Sasuke caught_ her _fist,_ her _hand_.

For awhile she just stared at him.

She could feel him. It didn't make any sense.

"You... You _see_ me."

She was flabbergasted. Shocked. Surprised.

"I always do," he replied as he slowly put down her hands. He didn't let go though.

"But I'm... But you... How..."

She took a deep breath, tried to make a coherent thought. She stared at him. "Why didn't you tell me though?" She asked softly. "You could've spoken to me."

She heard him mumble something in reply, but it was only the word _hurt_ that she caught.

"I'm strong, you know," she smiled even when her heart was breaking (again) and tears were falling down her eyes (mentally, her medic side was wondering how it was possible, but then again she had been crying since she met different people in that limbo). "I would've coped."

He stared at her calculatingly, as if sizing up what she said. And then slowly, carefully: "I meant me. I... I _killed_ you, Sakura."

Her eyes softened at his confession, and it was only then she realized she was bracing for another goodbye, not an apology or a confession.

He looked around, as if searching for anyone who might see them, and looked at her. "I can't stay here." He gulped. "I'd always... I'd always thought I would, you know."

She blinked.

"I always thought I'd come back..."

"Sasuke-kun..."

"And then my brother... And I swore I'd never come back. I was _so_ angry, Sakura. But when I killed you, when I killed you..."

 _I love you._

"I couldn't _believe_ you'd..."

"You couldn't believe?" She glared at him. "What? You think that confession I gave you years ago at this very same place was a joke?"

"We were twelve."

"Yes and I'm dead now and I'm still in love with you!"

Her confession both made them stand stock still, and all they could do is stare at each other. Somewhere in her befuddled mind, she thought: _Everything comes full circle_. Because here they are, at the gates of Konoha again, with him trying to leave and her pleading him to stay with a love confession thrown in with it.

"I hate this," she was crying loudly this time. "I want to hate you _so bad_ but I love you still. And I hate that! I hate that! I hate that when I cry, it's always got to do with you! That I worry even though you wanted to kill me! That every time I look into a new moon, all I could think of is that night and you! It's always you!"

"Sakura..."

"I'm sorry... Sasuke-kun, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"I cared, you know."

She stared wide eyed at him. The tears still fell, there was no helping it.

"The first time... That first time I saw you cry during our mission at Wave... I didn't know what to do. I was alone for so long I didn't know what it was like for someone to cry for me. And Kakashi was so adamant in teamwork that you grew on me. Every time I saw you cry over me..."

"Sasuke-kun."

"You were precious to me, Sakura. One of the few people I cared for. When I went berserk because of the mark, it wasn't just because of it. I was angry too. You were my teammate, and I cared for you. And yet, when I saw you cry then, my anger dissipated... Your tears... Your tears always make me hesitate. _You_ always make me hesitate. And I think, had I stayed, I'd have stayed with you."

"Sas—"

" _Sakura_ ," he said rather forcefully, probably to tell her to _listen_. "I... I wasn't very good at it. But I... I did love you. I still do."

A moment of silence passed, and she just went on _staring_ at him.

He blinked, trying perhaps to shake the uneasiness he felt. "I want you to come with me this time, Sakura."

And then she felt it: the small tingles beginning from her toes and the edges of her fingers. She realized then, that _he_ was her fifth person. She couldn't let go because of him.

She smiled. "I'm sorry Sasuke-kun. But I can't."

"What? But—"

She leaned up, hands on both sides of his face. He fidgeted, clearly not used to such contact.

"I'm a ghost, Sasuke-kun. Just an echo of who I once was. I can't go with you," she pursed her lips, trying to tell him everything she can—her time was running short. "But I love you too, Sasuke-kun. I think you know that already though. I'd love you in this life—and the next." She pressed a kiss on his lips, and as she moved away from him gave him a gentle poke on the forehead with her pointer and middle fingers. "See you next time, but don't hurry on getting on that next time, you still have a clan to rebuild."

And she was gone, just like that.


End file.
